Soccer Player Wanted for Murder After Game is Arrested in North Carolina

WILLIAMSBURG — A man wanted for the murder of a soccer player following an argument at a game has been arrested in North Carolina.

Investigators tracked down Prospect Heights resident Eswin Gramajo, 27, in Asheboro, North Carolina, and took him into custody on Wednesday, a week and a half after the stabbing murder of 31-year-old Delvin Martinez, a police source said.

Delvin’s 29-year-old brother Oscar was also stabbed multiple times in the Dec. 11 attack, though it wasn’t immediately clear if Gramajo would face charges in that case.

While Oscar was critically injured in the attack, he’s since been released from the hospital.

As of Friday, Gramajo was being detained in Randolph County Jail in North Carolina, correction records there confirmed.

It wasn’t immediately clear when he was due in court there, which will determine when he’ll be extradited to New York to face charges here.

Gramajo, an avid soccer player from Guatemala according to his Facebook profile, has one sealed arrest and no other criminal record, a police spokesman said.

The deadly stabbing took place just after midnight on Dec. 11 outside of Juan Morel Secondary School at 215 Heyward St. in Williamsburg following an argument between players of two opposing soccer teams who’d just finished up a game inside the school, according to police.

The non-profit North and Central Americans Soccer League has since been barred from using the school for future games, according to a Department of Education spokesperson.

Police blamed the league for selling liquor and beer inside the school and creating the environment that led to the deadly fight, though the head of the league denies that charge, DNAInfo reported.

A fellow soccer player and friend is raising money to pay for funeral costs and hospital bills for the Martinez brothers.